Da Li Temple - Chapter 9.1

Chapter 9.1
A New Person

Liang Weiping’s leg went soft, and he couldn’t stand up. Yes, he once, more than once, suspected her identity – watery eyes, pretty face, smooth skin, willowy waist —
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The person in front of him should be a woman. But for hundreds of years, the Nan Dynasty did not allow women to participate in the imperial examinations, let alone serve as officials.
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Liang Weiping has suspected her countless times. But every time this idea came, he dismissed it because he didn’t believe a woman would risk the charge of deceiving the Emperor. So thoughtless!
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Speaking of deceiving the Emperor, Liang Weiping swallowed his saliva. Now that he knew about this matter, was it also considered deceiving the Emperor?
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Perhaps guessing something from his sometimes-green-sometimes-white face, Lin Wanqing added: “Brother Liang does not need to worry. You are the only one who knows about this matter. If there is a day when things come to light, you only need to pretend that you don’t know, and I will not expose Brother Liang.”
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“Uh-huh,” Liang Weiping nodded his head. Even if he didn’t want to know, how could he forget about it?

Then, next — He lowered his head, his gaze falling on Lin Wanqing’s tattered robes, and was lost in thought for a moment.
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Following his gaze, Lin Wanqing also turned her head and looked at her back. The light gray robe was oozing blood and slightly torn. Fortunately, the weather was cold, and the middle garment was quite thick, so it didn’t reveal the wrapped breasts.

She said, “I don’t have anyone I can trust, so I’d like to ask Brother Liang to help clean up the wound.”
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Liang Weiping was stunned. His hands were trembling. After struggling for a long time, he went to the low cabinet on the side of the wall and retrieved a pair of scissors. The crisp sound of click-click-click-click rang out, and Lin Wanqing felt her back go cold. Her outer clothes were fine, but blood had stained her chest wrapper. After drying up, it mixed up with the overturned flesh. If she pulled it a bit, she would feel pain.
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When Liang Weiping touched it twice, he saw Lin Wanqing gritting her teeth and gasping for breath. Then, he didn’t dare to do it again.

Perhaps the wound pulling was too painful, causing Lin Wanqing to lie on the bed gasping for breath. Her eyes and nose soured, and a few drops of tears fell down the tip of her nose. The tears were salty, traveling from twelve years ago.
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A wave of emotions that she couldn’t tell, whether it was aggression or unwillingness, abruptly surged. She got up, fuming and pulling the cloth behind her back messily. Her wound had only stopped bleeding, and with this tugging, blood came out again.
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Liang Weiping watched from the side, wanting to go forward to stop her, but due to the male-female status, he did not know how to start.
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At this time, outside the door sounded a knock.
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The two were startled. Lin Wanqing quickly wrapped herself in the quilt and retreated to the inside of the bed.
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“Who is it?” Liang Weiping’s not-so-fit body blocked the front of the bed, opening his slightly trembling arms while asking toward outside.
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“It’s me, Da Li Temple’s Chief, Lord Su’s guard, Ye Qing.”
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The two people in the room were on the verge of stopping their breathing.
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Liang Weiping stared in horror and turned to look at Lin Wanqing, only to see that the latter was looking at him with the same horror.
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Knock, knock, knock. The frail wooden door shook again, and even the bed couch shook a few times.
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Lin Wanqing felt that if Ye Qing slapped the door with more force, he could send that little broken door to fly. So, if they were to dwell on whether to open the door or not, it seemed to be less significant —

Thus, what Ye Qing saw after they opened the door was Liang Weiping sweating profusely with his feet floating in front of Lin Wanqing’s bed. As for Lin Wanqing on the bed, she wrapped herself into a dumpling with a quilt, not leaving a single gap. Both of them looked at him with somewhat evasive eyes. Lin Wanqing’s eyes even took on a bit of defensiveness.
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Ye Qing was a rough man. He has always been unable to understand these twists and turns in people’s hearts. He was also too lazy to ask in detail. He only put the two large packages of herbs on the short table in the small room and said, “This is what Lord Su asked me to send.”
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Lin Wanqing was stunned, unable to believe her ears.
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“He asked me to bring you a message,” Ye Qing reached into his arms again and felt around, taking out a small porcelain bottle and placing it on the table, “Heal your wounds and report to the Da Li temple.”

*
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These days, Lin Wanqing had been in a trance, unable to believe, until she stood squarely outside Su Moyi’s study and looked up at the imperial gold plaque.
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The guard at the door heard her report her name and led her here. He even opened the door for her without hesitation, letting her go in and wait inside.

This room was an ancient and rustic study room. On the side of the window, there was a yellow pear wooden table and a chair. Next to it was a large screen painted with landscapes and a green firebird, separating all the high wooden shelves on the other side of the room.
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Lin Wanqing came to one of the wooden shelves. She saw neatly arranged books labeled with names and numbers, like the bricks on a city wall, fine and neat.
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Yangzhou City Wang’s extermination case in the 6th year of Hongwu, the headless female body case in Qingzhou, the bribery case of the Jingzhou Governor, and the Jizhou case —
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Lin Wanqing observed these books and was surprised by their number as well. These are Su Moyi’s cases during his four years in Da Li Temple. All these cases were jaw-dropping.
But —
Her footsteps lurched, and she seemed to notice something was wrong. Thus, she retreated to the beginning and sorted out these books again.

This person, did he number all these books according to the year, the state and county, and the murderer’s name?
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With a jumping heart, Lin Wanqing’s hand stopped at the small characters at the bottom of the case file ??”Heaven, earth, mystery and yellow —” (*)

T/N: ???? coming from the Yijing Book (Book Of Changes), an ancient divination book.
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“…… ” How twisted do you have to be to do something so weird?
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Lin Wanqing drew the corners of her mouth, suddenly afraid of this new boss of hers.
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At this time, someone pushed open the door behind her, carrying the smell of pine wood mixed with grass with a bit of cherry fragrance from April, clean and refreshing.
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Lin Wanqing’s back flinched as she turned around and was about to pay her respect. But she saw Su Moyi marching straight toward her with a sullen face, and without saying a word, he almost pushed her against the wooden shelf behind her.